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Alleged rapist danced with woman in Oxford nightclub

A MAN alleged to have raped a 20-year-old in an hotel room danced with her in a nightclub earlier in the evening, a jury heard.

Kirankumar Solanki, of Cottesmore Road, Oxford, denies two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

Opening the case yesterday at Oxford Crown Court Graham Smith, prosecuting, told the jury the complainant was drinking at The Bridge nightclub in Hythe Bridge Street on September 3 last year.

He said she became drunk, could not remember leaving the club, and woke up in bed with the defendant in the Victoria House Hotel, in George Street, Oxford. Mr Smith told the court Solanki, 29, was a stranger to the complainant, but yesterday statements from two of her friends were read in which they describe seeing the pair dancing together in The Bridge.

One said: “I found the way this male was behaving towards (her) made me feel a little protective towards her. I went up to the male and said ‘look leave it’ and gave him a little nudge.”

In a statement another friend said Solanki and the complainant were close together and added: “Which I believe resulted in them kissing each other.”